


Winona/Winona.

by A_nonny_Minnie_mouse



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies), Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: Also not-angst, Angst, F/M, Gen, George Kirk really should have found a better way to stop the Narada, Parallel Universes, Winona Kirk’s A+ Parenting, Winona Kirk’s actually decent parenting, sliding doors - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:35:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29176539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_nonny_Minnie_mouse/pseuds/A_nonny_Minnie_mouse
Summary: Winona Kirk lived two very different lives.
Relationships: George Kirk/Winona Kirk, James T. Kirk & Winona Kirk
Kudos: 4





	Winona/Winona.

Winona/Winona.

//

Her second born son comes into the world two months early, bathed in radiation and screaming just as his mother screams, watching her husband kamikaze himself into a Romulan ship that should not exist.

Inside she is numb.

/

Her second born son comes screaming into the world three days late, bathed in the golden light of an Iowan spring afternoon as his mother laughs in relief. She’s watching George’s face as he takes James into his arms like he’s the most precious thing in the world.

Inside her heart bursts with joy.

//

The call to ship out is a relief.

The house is filled with the reminders of George, the mess of a bratty three year old, and Sam’s crap which she screams herself hoarse trying to get him to put away. Not that he ever listens. At least George’s folks are willing to take the two little shits whilst she’s out in space.

She untangles herself from the three year old’s fingers, knowing she’s cutting it fine to get _her_ shuttle up. She doesn’t want to be stuck with another department, because at least hers know not to ask stupid questions about the nightmare stretches when she’s grounded.

The feel of gravity leaving her swoops through her stomach.

/

The call to ship out is a disappointment.

Jimmy and her had been reading through a book of 19th Century classics, and she was so proud of him for how well he was reading. George and Sam’s model car collection was lined next to the walls in some game the two of them concocted, and all she could do was laugh at the mess the pair made with their antics. She’s glad that Elsie and Tib will be there to help George whilst she’s gone- she knows she wouldn’t cope on her own with their two little geniuses.

She knows she’s cutting it close when she drops one last kiss on her kids’ heads, and George steals a smooch that steals her breath away. Worst thing is that she’ll be on a different shuttle up, and everyone loves seeing pictures of her kids- they’re practically Kelvin Royalty at this point.

Earth’s gravity falling away doesn’t remove the leaden lump from her stomach.

//

Frank is...

Frank.

He’ll tolerate her home life, and doesn’t give a shit that she’s off planet more often than not as long as he has enough money for booze. Hell, he even says he’s fine dealing with the crap her youngest gets up to.

When he asks her to marry him, she shrugs and says “fine”.

/

Frank is...

Frank. 

She wishes she didn’t get a shudder up her spine when she sees the man. Something about him unnerves her- maybe the way he glares as Jimmy ambles along the street, eager to touch and feel and talk and question. She shoots him a look which dares him to talk about her son.

When he asks her to control Jim, she tells him to fuck off.

//

It barely registers when the permission form for Tarsus IV comes across her PADD. Something about that brat kid being required to attend.

She authorises the form, and thinks nothing of it when the reports of the fifty thousand colonists in the overly ambitious attempt to make a dead world habitable come through.

/

She and George scour over every aspect of the permission form when Jimmy begs to go on exchange to the new colony on Tarsus IV. George’s sister is going as one of the agricultural specialists, so he will at least have family there. The school promises a unique, rigorous curriculum which just might keep the precocious thirteen year old occupied for longer than the half hour the local high school can currently manage. She and the school have had enough words about keeping her son’s brain engaged to last a lifetime.

Nervously they sign, and watch their son eagerly board the shuttle. When the reports come through eight months later of the four thousand dead, she is physically sick at what her son has been through. Once she gets him back in her arms, she refuses to let him go for nearly a month, despite his teenaged protests.

//

“I’ve entered Starfleet.” Is all the missive says. She glances at it, and deletes.

/

“You sure you’ve got enough jumpers, Jim?” She frets, as George prances around the officers and cadets like a proud peacock.

“Mom!” Jim laughs, “I’m entering Starfleet! They’ll provide me all the clothes I need.”

She refuses to delete the slightly blurry photo of the three of them in front of the recruitment shuttle.

//

“Isn’t your son Jim Kirk, Win?” One of the higher ups asks.

She growls, “What’s my good for nothing son done this time?”

“Youngest Captain in Starfleet. Saved the world. Thought you would’ve known already.”

/

“That’s my son!” She squeals in delight as Jim walks across the stage to receive his promotion, squeezing George’s arm tightly as he executes a perfect salute.

“I can’t believe he’s the youngest Captain in Starfleet history!” She brags to every person who will listen at the after party.

//

The sun is setting when she stumbles on her busted leg back to the house.

She hates Iowa with a passion, but a fall not serious enough for cybernetics, yet which wrecked her hip to the point where she’ll never crawl through a Jefferies again has shoved her unceremoniously into retirement.

When she gets there, there’s a burnt out shell where her house should have been. She wonders what went wrong that this was her fate.

/

The sun is rising as she and George stumble, half drunk, back to the house. Their laughter fills the air, and she’s surprised to see the lights on. Jim is sitting on the front porch, steaming cup of coffee in hand, and a cheeky grin on his face.

“Heard you’re finally retiring, Mom!” He greets them, “Any plans for it?”

She grins, and shrugs, wondering what new adventures she and George will get up to now that instead of Starfleet, it’s them who control their fate.

//

Sam’s death is a blip in days of drinking.

/

Sam’s death nearly undoes her, but she and George have their grandkids to take care of, and they need them. She’s a Kirk, and she would never abandon her family when they needed her.

//

Winona Kirk dies alone in a ditch by the side of some road in the middle of Iowa. The body is found days later, fingers frozen around the bottle of cheap whisky which was her only company in death.

/

Winona and George Kirk slip away peacefully, wrapped around each other one cool, Autumn night just as the last leaves were clinging to the trees outside their home. Their great-granddaughter finds them, and sobs, relieved neither of them will ever know what it is to be alone.

//

When Jim Kirk is asked about his mother, his face darkens, and he stiffly replies “I often think my mother died when the Kelvin went down. All my life, I’ve barely known her, so I can’t really comment on her death.”

/

When Jim Kirk is asked about his mother, his face softens, and a tear comes to his eye, “I often think my mother was my biggest inspiration. All my life, I’ve known her to be in my corner, my biggest support, and it’s strange to think that she’s gone. I wish I had the time, not to comment on her death, but to comment on her life.”

//

The dilapidated gravestone is slumped in the back corner of the Riverside cemetery. The pitted stone is covered in weeds and graffiti, and only reads:

Winona.

/

The polished marble gravestone sits in a riot of colourful flowers on the main thoroughfare of the Riverside Cemetery. The love of the people who left the stone for her and George is obvious in the way her name simply reads:

Winona.


End file.
